HEALTH EQUITY

Health care organizations are on the front lines of addressing health equity, playing key roles in not only access and care delivery, but also as employers, community members, and advocates for change. Health equity is more than equitable access to care. It is the ability to fulfill our human potential in all aspects of health and well-being. It’s an opportunity to achieve an overall state of well-being encompassing clinical, mental, social, emotional, physical, and spiritual health, and it is influenced by not just health care, but also social, economic, and environmental factors. Health equity has been in the spotlight as study after study has shown that COVID-19 disproportionately impacts historically marginalized and low-income groups and that these groups experience barriers that lead to poorer health overall than other parts of the population. But this type of finding isn’t new—it simply highlights structural flaws in the health system, systemic and unintentional bias, and inequities in the drivers of health (DOH; also known as the social determinants of health) have contributed to health inequities in communities across the globe and over centuries in complex and systemic ways.